Episode 919 (15th October 1969)
Plot Annie has gone to Derby for a while. Emily thinks she should do something to stimulate the social life of the Street. Len warns an unconcerned Cyril that Hilda is on the warpath about Betty and Stan. Elsie returns from a short holiday to a letter from Dave Smith upbraiding her for timekeeping. She resigns on the spot. Hilda tries to follow Stan when he goes out but he sees her and he and Betty avoid being spotted. An old man starts to follow an unnerved Hilda instead. Dot turns up at No.11 in a state as Walter has left her. Hilda gets back to the street and tells Len she's being followed but he can't see anyone. Emily suggests a coach trip to Ena and Minnie. Jack discovers his reunion and Annie's talk are both on 1st December. Hilda asks an amused Elsie and Dot's advice about the strange behaviour of a "friend"'s husband and they suggest he's having an affair. Dot suggests that Elsie returns to Miami Modes. Stan and Betty talk about the slimming club that they have both joined - "Fatties Anonymous". Cyril congratulates Stan on his progress, boosting his flagging willpower. Elsie goes for an interview at Miami Modes. Various suggestions are made about the coach trip so Emily starts a suggestion box. Jack is determined to go on his reunion. Stan turns down a meal of a steak pudding from a suspicious Hilda. Elsie is taken back on at the store on £14 a week - more than Dot earns. Betty and Stan arrange to meet outside the baths. Len overhears and tells Hilda. Elsie sends Dot home early to see if Walter is back. Hilda waits outside the closed baths where she bumps into an amused Cyril. Len tells Elsie he has a contract in Leeds and is going to be away for a while. Dot rings Elsie while Len is there and tells her Walter has gone again. She offers to put her up. Len tells Elsie that he bumped into Walter who told him he was off to Scotland and warns her that Dot is trouble. Cast Regular cast *Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie *Cyril Turpin - William Moore *Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson *Emily Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire *Elsie Tanner - Patricia Phoenix *Ena Sharples - Violet Carson *Stan Ogden - Bernard Youens *Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander *Betty Turpin - Betty Driver *Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant Guest cast *Dot Greenhalgh - Joan Francis *Old Man - Mark Strong Places *Coronation Street *Rovers Return Inn - Public/Snug *11 Coronation Street - Back room *Corner Shop - Back room *Miami Modes - Better Dress Salon *Unknown park *Weatherfield Baths - Exterior Notes *A scene in this episode features Betty Turpin handing over a 50p coin to Jack Walker for her drink (pictured above). The coin had been issued into circulation the day before the episode was broadcast in preparation for decimalisation on 15th February 1971 and its use in the programme was specifically requested by the Decimalisation Board. A representative coin was posted to the studio with a letter insisting it be handed back over once the recording was over. Executive producer H.V. Kershaw found out that a normal advertising slot publicising the coin would have cost thirty thousand pounds and, annoyed at the tight-fisted attitude of the Board, wrote in a line from Jack saying "Push your foreign coins off on somebody else" (although he subsequently admits he was joking and he has three more in the till). It was only after the event that Kershaw found out that it is illegal for HM Treasury and their departments to give money away. He wrote of this incident in his 1981 autobiography The Street Where I Live but forgot that the scene was between Jack and Betty and attributed it to Jack and Len Fairclough. See also note to Episode 1052 (15th February 1971). *Location filming for the park was conducted on the Grape Street set and at St. John's Gardens on Lower Byrom Street in Manchester next to Granada Television's Quay Street studios. The exterior of Weatherfield Baths was Victoria Baths on Hathersage Road in Manchester. The same location was used in October 2014 dressed as a courtroom for the trial of Peter Barlow. *Emily Nugent quotes lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1839 poem Autumn to Ena Sharples and Minnie Caldwell. *''TV Times'' synopsis: Elsie has husband trouble - other peoples! *Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 6,950,000 homes (5th place). Category:1969 episodes